74 
EDITORIAL. 
^Mtorial  Department 
British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. — In  our  last  number  reference 
was  made  to  the  meeting  of  this  body  at  Bath,  England,  September  last. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  November  contains  the  scientific  papers 
read  on  that  occasion,  which  have  swollen  the  Journal  to  double  its  usual 
size.  Some  of  these  papers  will  be  found  in  this  number ;  that  of  Mr. 
Groves  on  the  rancidity  of  fats,  and  that  of  Mr.  Stoddart  on  the  purity  of 
sulphate  of  quinia,  deserve  attention.  We  hope  in  future  numbers  to  re- 
print several  others.  Among  those  read  that  attracted  most  attention 
was  that  on  Weights  and  Measures  used  in  Pharmacy,  by  Barnard  S. 
Proctor,  who,  for  some  years  past,  has  given  attention  to  metrology.  In 
the  course  of  his  remarks  on  the  various  propositions  which  have  been 
brought  forward,  this  gentleman  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  Mr.  Alfred  B. 
Taylor's  monograph  on  the  same  subject,  published  in  the  Proceedings  of 
the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  of  1859,  in  which  he  brings 
forward  a  new  octonary  system,  embracing  every  form  of  measurement,  in 
the  following  terms  :— 
"  The  proposition  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  unques- 
tionably the  most  carefully  considered,  the  most  elaborate,  and  most  am- 
bitious of  the  proposed  plans,  is  based  on  the  belief,  and,  I  think,  I  may 
say,  the  well-grounded  belief,  that  for  all  practical  purposes  counting  by 
eights  has  the  greatest  sum  of  advantages." 
We  believe  « the  Conference  "  is  really  a  success,  and  that  its  future 
promises  well.  The  quality  of  the  papers  it  has  produced  justify  their 
publication  in  a  separate  form,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  proceedings 
of  the  next  meeting  will  not  only  be  issued  in  a  separate  and  distinct 
volume, — the  first  of  a  long  series, — but  that,  dropping  the  modest  and  in- 
itiatory title  of  "Conference,"  this  body  will  adopt  some  such  name  as 
"  British  Pharmaceutical  Association,"  representing  as  it  should,  and 
probably  to  some  extent  now  does,  every  pharmaceutical  interest  and  so- 
ciety. 
Our  School  of  Pharmacy. — It  is  a  source  of  satisfaction  that  our  Col- 
lege is  rapidly  recovering  from  the  depressing  influence  exerted  on  scientific 
schools  generally  by  the  great  Kebellion,  and  promises  soon  to  regain  its 
previous  numbers.  We  append,  as  usual  in  our  January  number,  a  list 
of  the  Class  and  Preceptors,  which  this  season  reaches  106. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Department  of  the  Army. — We  have  for  some 
time  past  entertained  the  idea  of  publishing  in  this  Journal  a  record  of 
the  prominent  facts  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  medical  service  of 
